A Hong Kong Arrow Adventure
by mjf2468
Summary: Oliver Queen evolved from a college drop-out to a deadly assassin while he was away from home. How did this happen? Part of the process was assisted by Amanda Waller, who recruited Oliver into a newly created organization. This is my AU take on how part of that evolution into an assassin could have happened. Mostly AU with parts from the show as well. Now multi-chapter.
1. Chapter 1: Welcome to Hong Kong

Summary: After waking up in Hong Kong after the fight with Slade on the island, Oliver meets Amanda Waller. Who is she, exactly, and what does she want with him? He is about to find out.

Disclaimer: No copyright infringement intended. All characters owned by CW/WB. I have taken some dialogue straight from the episodes, and the spoilers, but otherwise I have also expanded on these ideas for my own creation. I began this before Comic-con so I know some of my ideas might very well be AU as well, once the new season begins.

Oliver watched in horror as Sara disappeared from his sight into the raging waters again. It was almost exactly the same way she had disappeared from the yacht that terrible night two years ago. He barely had time for further reflection before Slade landed several well-placed punches on his already bruised and battered body.

"Poor Sara. How many times are you going to watch her die?"

The two men continued to fight, as it was indeed a fight to the death. At least it was for Slade. All Oliver wanted was to have the fighting stop. Exchanging blows, each man attempted to gain the upper hand. Slade finally managed to kick Oliver's leg out from underneath him. He then grabbed Oliver by the throat and held him up in the air, his legs kicking uselessly. Oliver grabbed frantically at Slade, trying to get out of his grasp but only was able to tear the mask off of Slade's face. Slade then threw him across the hull into the opposite wall.

Suddenly, an explosion ripped through the air and metallic pieces from the freighter fell around the two fighters. Oliver was knocked backwards into the dirty water. 'Anatoli must have fired the missile like I asked him to,' he thought. Oliver struggled to his feet, and saw that Slade was now pinned to the ground by several large pieces of the ship, despite his mirakuru-given strength.

Wading towards Slade, Oliver reached him and debated between the cure and the arrow. Now that Slade was incapacitated, he would be able to inject him with the cure. And save his friend. However, Slade's next remark changed his mind.

"What are you going to do, kid, stick me the cure? It doesn't matter. I'll keep my promise. I will take away everything and everyone you love. Sara was only the first. Your sister, Laurel, your mother…."

A sudden rage tore through Oliver. He swung his arm back, then thrust the arrow into Slade's eye with all his strength. Slade's head fell back into the water, seemingly in death. Oliver stepped back, stunned, staring in horror of what he just did. Before he could verify whether Slade was indeed dead, another explosion knocked him backwards into the water. The world became dark.

Consciousness returned and found Oliver waking up in a queen-sized bed. It seemed he was in a hotel room somewhere, with simple furnishings. It was small, but comfortable. Confused, he barely registered all of these details moments before several men burst into the room and grabbed him by the arms. They half-carried, half-walked him outside to a stretch limousine. Oliver was thrown into the back of the limousine, with one of the men following him into the limo.

Oliver sneered at the man beside him, who just met his look with a blank one of his own. Oliver straightened up in the car seat, and noticed a young woman sitting across from him. Jet black hair pulled back tightly into a bun, a stylish but formal suit, with a skirt that revealed very shapely legs. He was unnerved by the chill he saw in her eyes as she smiled a tight-lipped smile.

"Hello, Mr. Queen. Welcome to Hong Kong," she said in an indistinguishable accent that provided him with no clue as to her area of origin.

Oliver did not recognize her. As the limousine pulled away from the curb. Oliver looked out the window and watched as the unfamiliar buildings passed by. Why was he in Hong Kong? He then returned his gaze to the woman.

"Who are you?"

"My name is Amanda Waller. I run a little organization which could benefit from your assistance."

Oliver scoffed. "Excuse me? You've just rescued me from a deserted island that I've been on for two years, and you want me to do something for you? I just want to go home. I have no idea who you are, or why you think I would help you, or how you knew I was on the island in the first place, but….."

"Because you would be better off working for me than rotting in a cold prison cell. In a foreign land. While everyone you know and love thinks you are dead."

"Why would I go to prison?" Oliver asked, not believing this conversation.

"Because I know what you did on that island."

Oliver took a breath, was about to say something, then exhaled. He tried again. "I only did what I did to survive. What laws did I break doing that?"

"Oh, there are quite a few. Murder, for one. By my count, you killed three of Fyers' men, as a start." Amanda sat back further into the seat and fixed a cold stare directly in Oliver's eyes.

Oliver stared at Amanda in shock. A cold chill ran down his spine. "How do you know about Fyers?"

"Because I was the one who hired him."

Oliver saw red, and without thinking, flew across the seat in order to grab this woman by the throat. Images of Yao Fe and Shado dying, now seemingly unnecessarily, crossed his mind. Before he could reach the insane woman, however, the soldier next to him pulled Oliver back into the seat and pinned him down.

The moment passed, and Oliver relaxed his body in defeat. Amanda nodded to the bodyguard/soldier, who released Oliver and sat back down on his side of the seat. Oliver straightened up in the seat as well, keeping his eyes on the woman across from him.

"I am sorry for what happened to your friends. Frankly, I was surprised that you even survived, much less being able to kill Fyers himself. I was also impressed. Even then you showed some promise. Not to mention a large amount of beginner's luck."

"Promise? I had to fight for my life every single day, and you left me there? I could have been home months ago. Not only that, but you….you were behind the plan to ruin China's economy?"

"That is classified, but I will tell you that it was a matter of American national security. I was not happy with your interference with our plan, but I do understand why you took it upon yourself to interfere."

Oliver said with as much sarcasm as possible, "I cannot tell you how much I appreciate your…understanding."

"Our methods may be, shall I say, a little unorthodox, or unethical even, but they are what is necessary to keep our nation safe in today's world."

Oliver ran his hand through his hair in frustration. "Why would you want me to work for you? I do not have any experience in….any James Bond thing you want me for. I am just a spoiled rich kid from Starling who just wants to get home. See my family. Sleep in an actual bed. Take my favorite girl on a date."

"Let's just say that I never pass up an opportunity when it is presented to me. Besides, I feel you owe me for that 'interference' in the Fyers' incident."

"I would think that the money my family could pay you upon my safe return would make up for any inconvenience I might have caused."

"Good point, but….we need your unique set of skills more than we need cash at the moment."

Oliver shook his head in exasperation. "What is that, exactly? And you still have not told me why I should cooperate with you."

"Despite your failing out of three universities, I feel you are somewhat intelligent. I figure you would rather help us, in the long run, than suffer any more of the same indignities that Fyers and Ivo have put you through over these past two years."

"I did not know the U.S. government threatened torture."

Amanda scoffed. "It would not be the U.S. government that would harm you in any way, Oliver." She paused for effect. "This country's government, however, gets awfully suspicious of Americans who do not have passports. Or been on an island with known mercenaries. You have a very good chance of being arrested upon suspicion of being a spy. And Hong Kong authorities do not look kindly upon spies."

Oliver glared at her. He could not believe how this could be happening to him. First the island, with Fyers and Ivo and Slade, and now this? When will he be able to stop living some sick adventure tale and just go home?

"You do not want to cross me, Mr. Queen. However, if you work with me, you will not regret it." The woman smiled at Oliver again in a tight-lipped way that Oliver was afraid he was going to see quite a bit of over the near future.

"Somehow, I doubt it," Oliver muttered.

AN: This is not quite as polished as I would like. However, I do want to post it before we find out any more spoilers or see the episode, and summer is going by fast. Any constructive criticism would be appreciated, as well as any ideas for further chapters. Thanks bunches!


	2. Chapter 2: beginning of a new life

Disclaimer: No copyright infringement intended. All characters owned by CW/WB.

**AN: What had started as a one-shot, I have decided to add to it. The rest will be partly AU, partly directly from the show, depending upon what the show does. My main goal is to add to the story, adding scenes and/or inner thoughts of Oliver. I will pick and choose from canon, and add to it as the muse dictates. I partly want to add more excitement to these scenes. **

**Parts of this chapter appeared in my one-shot story ****Escaping****Hong****Kong****, but now I want to incorporate into a multi-chapter story. I apologize for any inconvenience for anyone who already read it, but I add it now because I figured how to connect the two stories. That part of the story is about one-third into this chapter, with original content following it. Please read all and let me know what you think. **

The rest of the car ride took place in silence. Oliver felt that he would not get any further answers at this juncture. His attempt at word games with the enigmatic young woman in front of him was tiring to his brain.

The car pulled up beside a nondescript building in a seemingly poorer neighborhood. Oliver had never been to Hong Kong, which at this moment he regretted tremendously. The soldier opened the door, got out, and gestured Oliver to get out as well. Amanda then followed, and they all entered the building. The thought of escape crossed his mind momentarily, but he quickly decided against it. For one, there were the guns the guards had. Second, he really needed to know what this was all about.

It was a huge cavernous room, appearing to be some type of warehouse. They crossed the floor to the opposite side of the room, where there stood a computer with several chairs. Amanda took a seat behind the desk, and began to type on the keyboard. Oliver wondered what she was up to.

"The opportunity to pick you up did catch us rather unawares, so I have to finish the paperwork for you at this time." Amanda explained, not stopping once from her typing.

Paperwork? Oliver really did not like the sound of that. "You have yet to tell me what exactly you expect me to do for you."

Amanda stopped typing and looked up at Oliver. Her lips pursed into a thin line as she considered her answer.

"You sure are persistent, aren't you? Well, Oliver, we are needing you to kill certain people for us. And if you don't, you will not like the alternative."

Oliver's eyebrows lifted at surprise with this abrupt change in Waller's demeanor. Before, she was a little more subtle, but now she put it out there on the table. It indeed sounded like a bad spy novel. A spy organization gone bad, agents gone rogue. Oliver never did like those movies.

"I also need to utilize your knowledge of your family business, and what your father wanted to do in Hong Kong."

"I don't know what my father wanted to do. This business trip, he never did tell me what he wanted to do in China. It was China, not Hong Kong, that we were headed for…..I don't know anything. About Hong Kong, or anything else. I told you that."

Panicking a little, Oliver wondered if he should have lied. But all along this adventure, being truthful had worked for him best.

"Well, Oliver, we shall see. Eventually, you will realize you have no other choice but to cooperate with us fully. Without question or hesitation. We will forge you into a weapon for your government. Or….you will not like the alternative. Just remember, you really do not want any harm on any of your friends or family."

Oliver attempted to glare at Amanda again, but she ignored him. "Upstairs in this building is what we call the 'dormitory'. It is where you will be sleeping or resting. When you are not in training. The training rooms are down here on the first floor and basement."

"What type of training?"

"Again, the questions? I will be telling you more later. Right now, you will be shown your room and you should get some rest. You will need it."

~~OQ~~OQ~~OQ~~OQ~~

On a beautiful autumn day, Oliver found himself running through the streets of Hong Kong, with an assassin hot on his tail. All he wanted was to get home, to be with Laurel. If only he could return to her, he would never be unfaithful again. He would settle down, be the son and brother he was meant to be. Work in the family business like his father had wanted him to.

As he ran, he could not believe how quickly the Parkour lessons had returned to him. He was surprisingly holding his own, the distance between him and the assassin increasing bit by bit as he flew over obstacles in his path on his way to freedom. He gained speed as he leapt over various carts, wagons, and such.

Oliver looked desperately for any government building that could assist him as he made his way through the streets. As he dodged carts and pedestrians, he struggled to hold onto only one thought: get to safety. He had no specific plan, taking advantage of an opening made available moments before he took it. The only chance of escape he had seen in the past month.

Just when he thought he might actually be successful in eluding his pursuer, his world became dark. Seemingly out of nowhere, a fist connected with his face when he had looked behind him and successfully knocked him out. Unconscious, he was then picked up by two men and dragged into a van that had pulled alongside them.

Oliver came to in another unknown building. Sitting in a chair. Then he heard it. Those blasted heels she always seemed to wear. They approached him from behind, then circled to the front of his chair. Oliver rested his arms on his upper legs and wearily raised his head. He met Amanda Waller's eyes through the long hair that had fallen into his eyes. He did not say anything.

They stared at each other in a small battle of wills . After several minutes, Oliver decided it was no longer worth it. He no longer cared as he broke the silence. "You should know I will never stop trying to escape."

"And you should know it is extremely easy to kill someone the world already thinks is dead," Amanda Waller, said so coolly that it sent a shiver down Oliver's back.

They continued to stare at each other for several seconds. Then Amanda smartly turned and walked out. A man with Japanese features, short black hair slicked back, walked out of the shadows.

Maseo Yamashiro, newly assigned the position as Oliver's handler, said, "I warned you, kid. There is no way out of this. Not until she releases you."

~~OQ~~OQ~~OQ~~OQ~~

Another opening to escape presented itself three weeks later. Maseo turned his back on Oliver, and he took advantage of it. He ran through the streets, attempting to look for streets he had not been on before, in the hope of finding the American embassy. In all the weeks, he had not been able to find out the address for the embassy.

Maseo was reducing the distance between them; Oliver looked ahead, and saw what appeared to be an internet café. He didn't know Hong Kong had them. He rushed into the café, hurriedly apologized to a man at a computer and knocked him off his chair. Oliver quickly accessed his email account and had just finished typing, "Mom, I am alive" when gunshots blew up the computer screen.

Maseo reached Oliver in what seemed to be in two steps. Knocking him off the chair with a roundhouse kick, Maseo proceeded to pound his fists into various vulnerable spots on Oliver's body. He stopped to say, "I warned you, another escape attempt and I was going to beat you again."

Oliver lost count of the punches Maseo gave his battered body and lost consciousness. The next thing he knew he was waking up in an unknown bed. Eyes unfocused at first, he slowly became aware of a woman bending over him. Her long dark hair brushing his shoulder as she leaned over him, she said to him, "I am happy you are awake."

The young Japanese woman continued. "Welcome to our home. Supper will be ready in thirty minutes."

Oliver rested until Maseo poked his head into the room. "We would like if you would join us for supper."

Oliver shrugged his shoulders. Until he knew more, he needed to play along with whatever they offered. Whether he liked it or not. Which he did not, but he had to learn the ropes of this new environment. In some ways, it was like still being on the island, with danger all around. However, the rules of this game were radically different as well.

Maseo introduced Oliver to his family. Maseo's wife and son were stilted at first around him, but then halfway through the meal, they dropped all pretences and carried on like any other family. Interacting like any other family. Oliver had to fight the homesickness that threatened to overwhelm him. He concentrated instead on his food, enjoying once again being able to enjoy a meal in civilization and shutting off any other feelings. In the dormitory, he had three meals a day, sharing them with various men and women who came and went. But not getting to know anyone.

Oliver had attempted to get to know the various people he met throughout the past three weeks, at meals or at training sessions, but none were forthcoming with information. He was constantly being told, more or less directly, not to search for information. With all his attempts, Oliver still did not know any more about the organization than he did when he first came to Hong Kong.

After supper, Maseo led Oliver to the room from earlier. "I need to discuss some things with you."

"Is that so?" Oliver could not control his rebellious nature.

"First thing. Amanda thinks I can control you better if you live with me now. She can better control both of us with you living here. With my family. So you will be staying here with us instead at the 'dormitory'. This will be your room."

"Sorry I have to put through the inconvenience. Why don't I just leave instead?"

Maseo ignored the sarcasm. "Second. Amanda has your first assignment. It is set for tomorrow."

"I said, I'm not killing anyone."

"And I say, if you do not complete your assignments, if you keep trying to escape, if you cause any difficulty whatsoever, Amanda will harm my son."

"Are you telling me, if I do not kill the person Amanda wants me to kill, she will kill your _son_?" Oliver looked at Maseo in amazement, after hearing the bombshell Maseo had oh so casually dropped.

"Yes, that is what I am telling you. I told you before, she will do anything to get what she wants."

Oliver turned away from the other man, brought up both his hands, and threaded his fingers through his hair. "I keep hoping I wake up from this nightmare. I do not know why she thinks I can do this. I am just a college drop-out, a goof-ball. Why would she think I can do this?"

Maseo shrugged his shoulders. "I am sorry. I do not know. She has her ways of controlling all of us. For her own reasons." He turned around and left the room.

Oliver never thought he would hate a person to the amount and the extent that he hated the woman named Amanda Waller. She had indeed come up with the perfect threat. A young child, how could he be responsible for the death of a child? But then again, how could he justify one life over another? It was worse than the choice Ivo gave him on the island between Shado and Sara.

Walking to the window, he looked out at the busy streets of Hong Kong. Who would have thought he would have ended up here? Living this kind of life? He closed his eyes and attempted to clear his mind and find a moment of peace. Otherwise he would have jumped out of the window.

The survival instinct that he did not know he had a short two years ago burst through his being. He will survive this like he survived Fyers and Ivo and Slade. Somehow. Oliver got into bed and attempted to clear his mind to get some needed rest, in order to be able to face tomorrow. And the day after that, and the day after that.

**AN: Thank you for reading! Any constructive criticism would be appreciated. **


	3. Chapter 3: First Assignment

Disclaimer: No copyright infringement intended. All characters owned by CW/WB. Most dialogue from Arrow season 3 episode 2 "Sara" written by Jake Coburn and Keto Shimizu.

**AN: A large part of this chapter is from season 3 episode 2 "Sara". I have added AU and inside thoughts of the characters in an attempt to add to the excitement of the story and to fix missing details. I hope you like it.**

The next day Maseo brought Oliver to the rooftop across from a luxury hotel. Oliver watched Maseo take out a gun and apparatus out of the back pack. "We'll take our position here."

"Who is your target?" Oliver asked, adopting an adolescent 'I don't care to be here' attitude. He was hoping today's assignment would only be to observe Maseo, instead of what he was dreading.

"I don't have a target. You do. Like I said yesterday, this is your first assignment."

"What? No. I've changed my mind. I'm not doing it."

Maseo sighed. "It might have escaped your notice, but Amanda Waller doesn't have a sense of humor."

"Really. Then why did she drag me off of Lian Yu to bring me all the way to Hong Kong? To become her hit man?"

"To become her operative. Obviously she needs you for something; otherwise she wouldn't be threatening _my_ family to assure _your_ compliance."

Oliver rolled his eyes and grabbed the gun out of Maseo's hands. He straightened the legs of the tripod, positioned the gun and looked through the scope.

"The target will be entering our line any moment," Maseo stated in a flat tone. "The target will walk ten paces through the roof garden and arrive at his hotel suite. That's your target window."

"I see it," Oliver stated as a man walked into the target field, his back to Oliver. Oliver aimed…..and looked away in disbelief after the man turned and Oliver saw his face.

"Tommy?" Oliver murmured to himself.

Tommy! His best friend, was in the cross-hairs! Tommy, a man who never hurt anyone ever in his entire life. Here in Hong Kong, and someone wanted him dead?

Oliver dropped the gun onto the building ledge, raised his hands, and walked away. "No way, this ain't happening!"

"You didn't eliminate the target."

"_That_ is not a target _That_ is my best friend. Why am I pointing a gun at my best friend?" Oliver looked around wildly, as if attempting to get the answer out of thin air. "Is this some sort of test?" he asked, looking Maseo in the eye.

"Yes, one that you failed."

Oliver's eyes widened. "Good! Flunk me, then!"

A look of pity momentarily appeared on Maseo's face, then disappeared. "Do you think it is a coincidence your friend happened to show up in Hong Kong? He's looking for _you_." Oliver's eyes shifted to a look of mixed panic, hope and shock. "When you logged into your email, you sent off an account alert. Dead men don't check their email, Oliver. He must believe you are alive and came here looking for you."

"Are you saying all this is _my_ fault?" Oliver brought a hand to his forehead, trying to rub the pain away. "That I essentially put a target on my best friend's back just because I want to go home?"

"Waller needs you. You cannot be compromised by some rich kid flashing your picture all over Hong Kong. Whether you are the one who pulls the trigger or not she wants Tommy Merlyn off the board."

_Off the board. Whether you are the one who pulls the trigger or not. _The words echoed through Oliver's brain. That Waller woman meant to kill Tommy, his best friend. What was worse, because of something he, himself, had done. His mistake. It did not matter Oliver only wanted to save his own life. Oliver could not risk Tommy's life in order to be rescued.

There had to be another way to get Tommy out of this mess. In desperation, Oliver suggested, "There must be another way. I mean, what if we go to a local morgue and we find a body that looks like Tommy, and we….."

Maseo scoffed at that suggestion. "At the Hong Kong morgue? Look for a corpse that looks like a white millionaire's son? You stand a better chance of winning the lottery and paying Amanda off."

Oliver got into Maseo's face. "I am _not_ going to assassinate my best friend. Do you understand? There has to be another way."

"There is, but it involves Amanda Waller finding someone else to executing your friend."

"No, I mean another way that does not involve killing." Oliver turned and looked Maseo in the eye. "Please. I think I have an idea that might work."

~OQ~OQ~OQ~OQ~OQ~

Tommy Merlin was in his hotel room. Thinking about his father. What a loser. Of course he would not understand why Tommy needed to drop everything and come to Hong Kong. To find Oliver, the man he considered to be more than a friend. Oliver Queen was his brother, a brother he had not seen in over two years.

That day, when he was notified about the ping on Oliver's email account…that was the day a part of his heart started beating again. He missed his friend so much. And the possibility of him being alive, it was almost too much for Tommy to take. Nothing was going to stop him from researching this possible lead. Tommy had commandeered his family jet and hurried to Hong Kong. He lost no time upon his arrival and walked through Hong Kong, attempting to find anyone who might have seen his friend.

It felt like he had walked all over Hong Kong, talking to almost every person in the city, showing Oliver's picture. Finding no leads, Tommy had returned to his hotel room. He was almost at the end of possible leads. The feeling of crushing defeat was almost too much to take. He poured himself a drink from the mini-bar, not aware of another presence in the room. About to sit down in the armchair, he barely felt the prick of the dart that brought darkness.

He woke up in an unknown room, in complete darkness. Suddenly the room was flooded in light because the sack over his head was removed. In his fright, Tommy barely noted his wrists tied behind his back, and that he was sitting in a high back chair. No one was in his eyesight, but he felt a presence behind him.

"How did I….What's going on here? Where am I?" Groaning, Tommy attempted to see the person behind him. "Please don't hurt me. Just let me go. Please, I promise I wouldn't tell anyone about this." He was too scared to feel humiliated by the whininess of his voice. He was alone, in a foreign land, held by unknown people. It was not the time to worry about being macho.

Oliver, dressed in black with a veil covering everything but his eyes, adopted a threatening voice. One that was darker, deeper, than his normal speaking voice. "Would a fisherman throw his prized catch back into the sea?"

Tommy was caught off guard by that statement. Not what he expected a kidnapper to say. "What? What are you talking about? Look, whoever you are, you really don't want to do this." Tommy was able to drum up bravado as an idea entered his mind. "Do you have any idea who I am? Who my father is?"

"You're Thomas Merlyn. You've been looking for Oliver Queen."

And now he returned back to being scared. "How do you know that?"

"Because it went according to my plan. A simple hack of a missing billionaire's email account. I knew someone would come looking for him. But I thought it would be his mother, his sister." Tommy heard the man pacing behind him. "But you, the son of the CEO of Merlyn Global? Jackpot. My friend, you are going to make me a very rich man."

Sadness overwhelmed him, helping to momentarily distract him from his fear. "So Oliver didn't…" Tommy gasped in an attempt not to cry. "He isn't…?" Hope died within Tommy. The email alert was only a trick. It did not mean Oliver was alive. His heart crushed, Tommy fought against tears.

Oliver stopped his pacing and removed his mask. He looked down, and tried to remind himself it was in Tommy's best interest to convince him of this. "Oliver Queen is dead. He's rotting at the bottom of the ocean. You will be, too, if your father doesn't pay that ransom."

Suddenly outside a police siren was heard and calls of "Stop! Police!"

Maseo, dressed in a police uniform, entered the room, gun drawn, circling around room to the front of Tommy. He nodded slightly to Oliver, who leaned against a pillar and sighed in relief. This masquerade was almost over! He watched as Maseo untied Tommy and comforted him.

"You're going home. You're safe now."

Behind a pillar, Oliver looked away. Tommy's cries of his relief pierced his heart. Maseo then led Tommy away to the outside of the building. The plan was for Maseo to return Tommy to his motel, where he would pack up and head back home.

~OQ~OQ~OQ~OQ~OQ~

"_Oliver Queen is dead. He's rotting on the bottom of the ocean with the fishes."_

Oliver sat in his room in Mateo's apartment, staring at the wall, those words reverberating through his brain. He almost got his best friend killed because he tried to escape Amanda Waller. Even though he flunked out of three colleges, Oliver knew the meaning of irony. It did not escape his notice Amanda used his friend against him as a direct result of his attempt to escape. Just another way to hammer the fact others would be harmed if he continued to attempt escape

Did he have any other choice? If he did not escape, he was doomed to do whatever awful things Amanda wanted him to do. Oliver did not want to wait around to find out what the 'big mission' was. However, if he attempted to escape and did not succeed, his 'punishments' would only get worse. Maseo had practically told him that in actual words.

"_Oliver Queen is dead. He's rotting on the bottom of the ocean with the fishes."_

Those words he had spoken to Tommy, he now realized were actually true. The Oliver Queen the world had known indeed was lying on the bottom of the ocean floor with the fishes. He was no longer the boy who had left his home two short years ago. Instead, he was becoming someone else, someone Oliver was afraid he won't like.

~OQ~OQ~OQ~OQ~OQ~

"What happened?" Amanda asked the operative standing in front of her.

"Queen refused to kill Merlyn. A fact I am sure you are not surprised with."

"Even with the threat against your son? Even with the threat of someone else doing the job?"

"Yes, but the threat has been neutralized regardless."

Amanda clenched her teeth in a moment of frustration, and then mentally centered herself. "How is that?"

"Mr. Queen came up with the idea of staging a kidnapping of Mr. Merlyn."

"How did that neutralize the threat?"

"Queen, as the kidnapper, told Mr. Merlyn a story the email hacking was a ploy to lure one of Queen's family to Hong Kong in order to kidnap them for ransom. That Merlyn was not supposed to have been the one to come, but would certainly prove a worthwhile substitute. We allowed Mr. Merlyn to sweat for a moment, then we played a police siren. I then burst the scene pretending to be Hong Kong police in order to rescue him. Mr. Merlyn bought it." Maseo paused, then stated, "He left Hong Kong immediately upon release."

Amanda shook her head. Part of her was not surprised, for she had already seen some of Mr. Queen's ingenuity in the past two years. It was part of what had drawn her to the young man. What he lacked in experience, he certainly made up with ingenuity.

"The question is, has Mr. Queen learned the lesson of all this? Or did you have to spell it out for him?"

"No, he did catch the significance he almost brought death to his best friend due to his attempt at escape. I believe he will now have second thoughts before he attempts another escape."

"I certainly hope so." With a curt nod, Amanda indicated the meeting to be at an end.

Maseo left, and Amanda leaned back into her office chair, and steepled her fingers together. In her experience, the tools requiring the most work in honing them at the beginning became the most useful. Oliver Queen was one of the most aggravating individuals Amanda had ever met, but certainly could become one of the most talented operatives possible. She hoped he would indeed prove to be worth all the trouble he was going to be in order to get him there.

**AN: Thanks for reading! If you can, please leave a comment and/or review!**


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